Sunday, April 01, 2007

On to Chongqing

Guess what we did today...that's right! We got on an airplane to Chongqing. However, even that seemingly simple task was an adventure. First, our flight was supposed to leave at 1330 (1:30 PM for you non-24 hour clock kind of people). Now, you would think that we wouldn't have to be at the airport until say...12:30, right, for a domestic flight? However there was another couple going to Jilin province today while we were going to Chongqing. But their flight left at 11:30, so we had to be there at 10:30, which means that we were packed up and leaving the Beijing Mariott at 9:30 AM. It could have been worse, we could have been leaving at 8:30!



But there is more - our flight to Chongqing was delayed by an hour and a half...so even more waiting. Too funny! When it was time to board the flight, our seats were all over the place. Some people were together and some miles apart. After, we all got on, we found that there were empty seats next to some of the families while their spouses were clear across the plane - go figure!



We arrived in Chongqing, which was cloudy and cool, and went to our hotel. The hotel is really nice, and each room came equipped with a crib, baby bathtub, baby toiletries, and a cute pair of baby slippers. It was exciting to walk into our room and have baby stuff.

Hannah's "for now" crib, already set up and waiting.


It came complete with a Panda, just for her.


Here is the bathtub and toiletries provided by the hotel.


And her own personal pair of slippers...maybe a little to big for now.
After our luggage arrived, we all went to the hotel restaurant. We decided that since we were going to have Chinese food tomorrow, and we all wanted a little comfort food, we thought that we would go to the "Traditional Bar and Grill". The "Traditional Bar and Grill" was complete with crystal glasses and a wait staff that outnumbered our group. We were expecting to be able to order burgers and fries, not lamb chops and steak. There was just a little bit of a language barrier (I know, imagine that) when they came and filled our glasses with water. "Is it tap water or bottled?" Hand motions and a wine menu followed. "Bottled water", followed by more motioning of one opening a bottle finally got the message across.

They brought our water and dumped part of one all over me. Brrr, it was ICE COLD! The waiter was more than just a little embarrassed. We got over that, and everyone's glasses were filled. The rest of the time was spent sharing stories about funny incidents, interesting experiences here, and conversation about our girls arriving tomorrow. As usual, once the food arrived, the conversation settled down and we ate. Several of the men ordered steak, and they all ordered it medium or medium well. They all looked pretty good, except Keith's. It was still mooing. Now try to explain that. More hand motions. How do you motion "raw steak"? Whatever we did, it finally got the message across, and they removed his steak, and later brought him a nicely done yummy chunk of beef. Much better!

They boys were hungry again very quickly after dinner, but we were pretty limited on our snacks, so down to the concierge dest to find a 24 hour convenience store. After much discussion between the reception desk and the concierge, the concierge took us for a walk. I guessed it was better to show us than to try to explain how to get somewhere. We went from a luxury 5 star hotel to a local residential neighborhood very quickly. We passed by street vendors and outside food stands everywhere. Our concierge stopped at a few places but was not satisfied with the answers that he received. We were not about ready to sample anything that he did not recommend. Finally after making it around the block, he said that we would have to wait until business hours tomorrow and took us back to the hotel. I'm glad he took us because I would have never entered that neighborhood on my own.
After we got back to the room, we remembered that we had some instant oatmeal and Kuyler had some cookies from the airport. So, the boys all got together for some late night snacking!

Now, we are all off to bed for some well earned sleep. The babies are supposed to be here tomorrow evening. We are going to Wal-Mart tomorrow to pick up some needed baby items prior to their arrival. We are hoping to do a little shopping for the orphanage as well.

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